Home: Motivation in Action

This site was created to teach a practical and actionable model for understanding motivation and emotion, called Reversal Theory. Visit Learn the Theory for introductions to Reversal Theory. Then, explore Sample Videos to see how Reversal Theory shows up in a variety of popular commercials, a home video, and a Presidential speech. Then, visit Next Steps for how to learn more.

What is Reversal Theory? Start with these questions:

Have you ever been bored by a conversation, and then suddenly intrigued by what someone had to say?

Have you ever been embarrassed because you suddenly realized that you were standing out in a crowd?

Have you ever been one of the crowd, but wanted desperately to break free?

Have you ever felt your mood shift, but not really know why?

Reversal Theory helps explain these situations. By providing a structure for understanding both motivation and change, the theory helps you “sort through” the meaning you assign to situations and the emotions that result. With the dual benefits of being both well-researched and highly practical, Reversal Theory helps you both understand your emotional reactions, and potentially alter those reactions based on whether those reactions are helping or hurting you.